The case of an Indian student, brutally bashed in Melbourne late last year, has prompted calls for changes to Australia's migration regulations.

Manrajwinder Singh was attacked on December 29 while on a night out with friends to celebrate the end of semester.

While Mr Singh's recovery is well underway, he and his family will need Australia's immigration minister to intervene in the case in order to ensure he can stay in Australia.

Police say Mr Singh was viciously attacked by a group of teenagers as he and his friends waited for a train.

I actually woke up, and I didn't know what just happened. It was like, reality was something else...now my brain is empty.

Manrajwinder Singh

Mr Singh was kicked in the head and hit with a stick, suffering severe brain damage.

Police have charged three people over the incident.

The 21-year-old accounting student spent the past eight weeks in hospital, undergoing surgery on both his brain and jaw.

"I actually woke up, and I didn't know what just happened. It was like, reality was something else," Manrajwinder Singh said.

"Now my brain is empty".

He still struggles to comprehend how his life changed dramatically in a split second and has no memory of the attack that left him in intensive care, or the past 20 years of his life.

"They [my family] told me so many things but I don't believe," he said.

His older brother, Yadwinder Singh, says he faces many more months of rehabilitation, not to mention many more months with questions over his visa status.

"Doctors have told me, he can't attend the school for almost a year or one and a half year," Yadwinder Singh said.

"So he's going to remain at home... he cannot work as well."

That affects his student visa, which was due to expire in 2017, when he should have completed his three-year Bachelor of Accounting.

"After I leave hospital, what am I going to do?," Mr Singh asks.

"Because if you see me, I look okay but it's not true".

Lengthy visa process

Manrajwinder Singh is unable to make decisions in his current state, but his brother Yadwinder is pushing ahead on his behalf, trying to ensure his younger sibling can remain in Australia.

"Because the attack happened here so if he unfortunately goes back to India then there is no such treatment for him and we have to pay for him, and that is hard for my family," Yadwinder Singh said.

"His health is my first concern, so that is why I'm fighting for his long stay in Australia otherwise there is no reason I want him to get the residency of this country."

The Singh family is now seeking legal advice, but they've been warned they have a long process ahead of them.

There should be discretion at a much lower stage than the Minister for the Department of Immigration to make allowances for these sorts of problems.

Migration lawyer Michael Clothier

"I've got dozens of cases, and many of them have been waiting over a year. One of them has been waiting for two years on a decision by the minister," migration lawyer Michael Clothier said.

Mr Clothier says Australia's Migration Act leaves the final decision for such cases in the hands of Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.

"There's very little discretion to take into account the sort of things that might happen to young men and women who are living away from home for the first time," he said.

"I'm talking about things like motorcar accidents; there's no laws in place to enable an applicant to defer for a long time, not even the policy allows for that. So often you get international students having their visas cancelled because they've been involved in car accidents, they've been injured or where they've been victims of crime.

"Everything associated with those sorts of problems has to go all the way to the Minister, for ministerial intervention because the migration regulations do not make the sort of allowances that need to be made."

Mr Clothier says changes need to be made.

"There should be a discretion at a much lower stage than the minister for the Department of Immigration to make allowances for these sorts of problems," he said.

The Council of International Students' President Thomson Ch'ng says with education one of Australia's biggest exports, these matters need to be clarified.

"The international students which are currently abroad would like to know what the government and the authorities are taking action to assist and support international students who are currently studying in Australia when it comes to these sorts of matters," Mr Ch'ng said.

A spokesman for the Immigration Minister says Mr Singh's family has been advised they my wish to contact his education provider to obtain a deferral to his studies.

“The Minister can only intervene if there is an application for consideration before him," the spokesman said in an emailed statement to the ABC.

"If a person’s visa has not been cancelled, or their visa application has not been refused, the minister cannot exercise his ministerial intervention powers.

“There are current provisions under the National Code of Practice for Registration Authorities and Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students for the consideration of compassionate or compelling circumstances that warrant deferral or suspension of studies."

"This includes granting a student a leave of absence from study while remaining enrolled with their education provider."

The spokesman says under these circumstances, the Immigration Department would not consider cancelling the student’s visa unless other concerns arose.

Mr Singh's family says they have been told they are able to defer his studies for a semester.